


Walking Across The Sky (Pumpkin Spice Edition)

by killingmonsterswritingthings



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Birthday Party, Dancing, Gen, Halloween, M/M, Pining, Pre-Relationship, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-31
Updated: 2017-10-31
Packaged: 2019-01-27 06:30:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,867
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12575780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/killingmonsterswritingthings/pseuds/killingmonsterswritingthings
Summary: Time passed differently in space. This was both a fact and an experience Lance had made.So it came as a bit of a surprise when he checked Earth calendars and counted days and realized it was the middle of October already.Between Keith's birthday and Halloween, the Voltron crew had more than enough reason for a party.





	Walking Across The Sky (Pumpkin Spice Edition)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Allie pxorq](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Allie+pxorq).



> happy belated birthday allie (and keith :P)! and happy halloween to everyone else...
> 
> this took me a little longer than i planned but hey, at least i managed to finish it for halloween, ha. it's a little messy and self-indulgent and i fudged with the timing a bit. it's set... somewhere before or at the beginning of season 4, probably? who knows? ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

 

Time passed differently in space.

This was both a fact and an experience Lance had made.

So it came as a bit of a surprise when he checked Earth calendars and counted days and realized it was the middle of October already. He kicked his legs out, threw his tablet from him and left his room in a hurry to go look for Hunk.

He found him in the common room. Lance dramatically threw himself onto the sofa next to him.

“Huuuunk,” he whined. “Do you know what month it is?”

“October,” Hunk said without looking up from what he was reading.

“Dammit, you’re too organized,” Lance sighed. “But it’s Halloween in like… eleven days.”

“I know,” Hunk said, and this time he looked up. “Which also means it’s Keith’s birthday in two days. Or three, depending on how you count.”

Lance’s mind went blank for a second. Fuck. He _knew_ when Keith’s birthday was but had been so used to conveniently forgetting it for years that now he had actually forgotten about it. “Oh, quiznak.”

“Don’t tell me you forgot,” Hunk said with a raised eyebrow. “With how obsessed with him you are...”

“I’m not obsessed!” Lance said. Good save. He pouted a little but then he had an idea. “Ohhh, we should have a combined birthday slash Halloween party!”

“Wouldn’t that be a bit early?”

“It’s never too early for Halloween,” Lance said with vigor.

“Don’t you say the same thing about Christmas?”

“Every holiday is important, Hunk. Why deprive yourself of a good thing?” Holidays were the best thing. A day off plus celebration plus all the food? Heaven.

“Yeah, that makes sense...” Hunk rolled his eyes fondly.

Lance jumped up again, too pumped up now to sit still. “Please please please help me bake a spooky cake and spooky cookies.” They didn’t have a lot of time to prepare, but it would be enough. There were four of them – Keith excluded. He couldn’t know, obviously.

Hunk’s eyes lit up immediately. “I’m having the best recipe ideas already.”

“Alright, let’s go look for Pidge and get this show on the road!” Lance pulled him up.

They found Pidge in her workshop and got her in on helping with the decorations, too, especially the lighting, since there were obviously no proper fairy lights in the castle.

Now they only had to convince Allura and Coran that this was absolutely something they had to do.

  


  


~*~

  


They held a meeting on the bridge slash control room later, a few quiet hours in space for once. Lance was standing in front of them all, just having finished presenting his plan to Allura, Shiro and Coran, who hadn’t been in the know yet.

“That sounds like a great idea!” Coran said, clapping his hands.

“Yes, but there’s no way we’re going to make it until his birthday,” Hunk said.

“Doesn’t matter, he’s going to be off at the BoM for uhhh... a couple more days anyway,” Shiro said. “We knew the mission was going to take about a week, so that fits perfectly.”

“We can surprise him when he comes back,” Pidge said with a wide grin.

“Okay but how are we going to know when that is. He just walks in whenever he wants to.”

“I have my ways,” Allura said with a wink. Lance just had to believe her.

  


~*~

  


“So, what are you gonna dress up as?” Lance asked, hanging upside down from the couch. They had just returned from flying a mission and collectively decided to postpone further party planning until tomorrow.

Hunk was sitting on the floor leaning against the sofa and looked at him now. “I don’t know yet. A chef?”

Lance snorted. “Hunk, you can’t dress up as something you already are.”

“But it fits me so well,” Hunk whined, before quickly changing the topic: “Next question, how do we find a costume for Keith?”

“Oh, that’s easy,” Pidge piped up, grabbing a wrapped piece of space candy from next to Hunk. “We let Shiro pick.”

“Aw, why can’t I pick?” Lance pouted. He was great at picking costumes. Problem was that he was terrible at guessing sizes.

“Because you would either put him into some furry outfit or something super inappropriate,” Pidge said, popping the candy in her mouth and walking back to her little work corner. “Also your crush is showing.”

“He already is a furry,” Lance said, completely ignoring the comment about the crush. You confided in your friends _once_ and they kept dragging you with it.

“He’s half-Galra,” Hunk corrected. “That’s different.” Lance opened his mouth to argue, but couldn’t really find an argument.

The topic turned back to who they would be for the party.

“Ohhh, we should do a trio costume!” Hunk said now, obviously pleased with his idea.

Pidge looked up from where she had started tinkering with a holo communicator. “Like the horsemen of the apocalypse kind, or pop culture?”

“There’s four horsemen though,” Lance said.

“Okay, but we could coordinate with Shiro,” Pidge shrugged and turned back to what she had been doing.

“But wouldn’t that be kind of weird?” Hunk said. “Like, I love the man but he’s not you guys, you know?”

“Awww,” Lance made. “I love you too, buddy!”

“Question of the what remains, then, if you don’t wanna do the horsemen thing,” Pidge said, completely ignoring what Lance had said.

“Something space related?” Lance offered.

“But we’re already _in_ space,” Hunk said.

“Yes, it’s perfect irony...”

“Ohh!” Pidge made and waved the communicator around excitedly. “What about Star Wars?”

“I could be Finn!” Hunk exclaimed excitedly.

“Or!,” Lance ventured, “We go even further back, and do the _original_ trio.”

“If you’re Leia, sure,” Pidge quipped.

“I mean, technically Allura should be Leia because princess and all, but that would be like Hunk being a chef, so of course I am going to be Leia, are you kidding me? Space princess and kickass general!”

“Okay, as much as I love Luke, I think the Force Awakens trio divides better between us,” Pidge said, finally putting her pliers and the communicator to the side. “Think about it, Lance, you could be Poe.”

It was a convincing argument. Poe Dameron _was_ pretty great, an awesome pilot and _clearly_ bi.

“Doesn’t that leave you as Rey, though?” Hunk wondered at Pidge.

“Yup,” Pidge said. “She’s awesome. She also survived on a planet filled with nothing but junk.”

“I can’t tell if you’re talking about Earth or your stint in Floating Space Trash Sea.”

Pidge only grinned.

  


~*~

  


Convincing Allura and Coran that dressing up was an essential part of this party was easier than expected.

Allura beamed excitedly when presented with the idea. “Ohh, that’s easy, I can even make myself look like whoever I’m going to be.”

“Wouldn’t that be exhausting though?” Pidge wanted to know.

“Not extremely,” she said. “I’m just not sure… who I should be.”

“Something classic, probably,” Hunk said.

“You could be a witch! Like a traditional Earth Witch Costume” Pidge said. “Since… you technically also have magic.” She said it a little hesitantly, and they all looked at Allura, waiting for a reaction. The whole Altean magic topic was still a little touchy after their most recent discovery.

But Allura seemed to be surprisingly excited for the idea. “Oh, that sounds fun! You’ll have to show me what witches look like on Earth.” None of them had the heart to explain to her that there were no actual human witches – as far as they knew.

“I could be a rock star,” Coran said contemplatively, a smile spreading on his face. “I did have a phase in my youth that you might call… punk.”

“Coran, my man!” Lance grinned. “That sounds perfect.”

  


  


Shiro agreed to picking Keith’s costume, already looking a little mischievous.

When questioned for himself however, he just shrugged and said “Headless horseman.” None of them really wanted to think about the irony of _that_.

  


~*~

  


“Ah shit, we need pumpkins,” Lance said when he walked into the kitchen for breakfast the next morning, after a long night of going through clothes and sewing for his Poe costume.

Pidge and Hunk looked up from their food goo porridge and at each other. Shiro groaned without even raising his eyes.

“Pumpkin hunt?” Pidge asked, already dropping her spoon.

“Pumpkin hunt!”

They were Paladins of Voltron and they could take their lions for a ride to look for space pumpkins if they wanted to.

  


They found them two systems over. Not quite pumpkins, but also no turnips. They were mostly for decoration anyway – although Hunk swore they were edible, and Lance trusted him to make anything taste like pumpkin.

  


Allura as a little annoyed with them for “misusing the lions” but then again, they were their lions. Although Lance sometimes wondered if they weren’t just borrowing them. Voltron was older than any of them, and would outlive them, in the end.

  


~*~

  


They had started setting up in the common room well in advance, just in case Keith came back early. That never happened, but they had all agreed they needed to be prepared. So they carried the table over, and put up decorations, and Lance tried to help Pidge and Hunk while they tinkered with the lights. But in the end they still finished early, and after that it was just a waiting game. And Lance was bad at those.

Finally Allura received an encrypted subspace call from the Blade of Marmora. She called them all up to the bridge.

“He’ll be here in half a Quintant,” she said. “So, Hunk, I hope the cake is ready.”

“It is,” Hunk nodded. “Plus, I’d probably still have time to bake another.”

“Pumpkins?” Allura asked, stressing the second syllable – obviously still not used to the word. She looked at Pidge and Coran.

“Ready,” Coran piped up. “Although I still don’t understand the purpose of the tradition...”

“It’s fun,” Lance cut in. “A fun holiday tradition. Also originally probably to ward off evil spirits-”

Unfortunately Allura stopped him before he could launch into his third full-blown, loving explanation. “Alright!” She clapped into her hands. “Let’s put the finishing touches on the room and then get into our costumes.”

  


  


The proximity alert warned them of Keith’s arrival early enough that they could get into position. They had turned off all the lights in the lounge and were hiding as best as they could, while the task of greeting Keith and leading him to his surprise party had fallen to Pidge. She was the best liar out of them all.

It was eerily quiet in the room – so quiet that they could hear Keith and Pidge’s approaching footsteps from far away. And their voice, a little later.

“I really just want to say hi,” Lance could hear Keith say. “I’m beat.”

“I know, we just gotta show you this thing.” Wow, very convincing, Pidge. “Lance found it a couple days back and we think it might Galran, but Shiro’s arm’s not reacting to it and there’s nothing in the ship’s database.” Okay, that was better.

A sigh from Keith. They had to be really close now. Lance turned to the others, finger on his lips – even though they could barely see him in the darkness, and he was probably the one who had the most trouble staying quiet.

The doors slid open. Lance held his breath.

Then Pidge turned on the light.

“Happy Birthday!”

Despite the light blinding him too for a second, Lance could see Keith flinch and then cycle rapidly through emotions. Shock showed on his face first, then confusion and then it settled on something Lance couldn’t quite place.

He didn’t say anything.

“Don’t just stand there,” Pidge said and pushed him further into the room.

Shiro went up to Keith, who had taken a few tentative steps forward, and hugged him for a moment. “Happy belated birthday.”

“Thanks,” Keith said, and when they let go of each other he turned towards the others. “Guys… I… You remembered.” He was smiling, but he looked so vulnerable – and for some reason he was looking straight at Lance.

Lance wanted to say that of course they had remembered, but somehow… He couldn’t say a thing.

Hunk held up a hand. “Don’t say any more.”

“You have to put on your costume,” Allura said cheerfully.

Keith blinked, as if realizing for the first time that they were all wearing costumes, save for Pidge, who would also have to change now. “But I don’t...”

“Oh yes, you do,” Shiro said, producing a box from a nearby nook. For a moment Lance thought Keith would protest – he almost expected him to – but he just opened and closed his mouth and accepted the box.

“Go, go, put it on,” Coran urged him, already pushing him out of the room again. Keith, still looking confused and overwhelmed, complied.

“I can’t wait to see him in that,” Lance said when the doors had closed behind Keith again. All eyes turned to him. He frowned. “What?”

Pidge and Hunk sighed in unison and Hunk clapped him on the back. Pidge just rolled her eyes at him and then left the room, too.

“Oh, Lance,” Allura mumbled.

Lance wasn’t completely oblivious. He knew what they were alluding to. He also wasn’t someone to deny himself his feelings – or a bit of flirting. But with Keith… it was different. They were good as rivals. Plus Keith had the Blade now, so soon he would surpass him and forget about Lance again.

His thoughts were interrupted by the door sliding open again. He blinked, as Keith entered in his costume, and just took it all in. Then he gave a low whistle. “Damn, buddy!” Shiro really had picked well.

When Shiro had said that he had picked a fairy tale costume for Keith, Lance hadn’t expected this. The red cape draped over Keith’s shoulders made him look broader, despite the fact that traditionally, little red riding hood was supposed to be cute. This was just… hot.

“You look great!” Coran said loudly.

Keith pulled at the cape. “Are you sure? I feel silly.”

“It’s part of the fun,” Shiro said and pulled the hood over his head. “You look fine.”

“Cake time!” Lance declared loudly and waved at Hunk. They had set up one of the cakes on the table but the other was still in the kitchen, makeshift candles waiting to be lit. Hunk flashed Lance a grin and a thumbs up and hurried off.

“He baked for me?” Keith asked, sounding a little incredulous.

Lance nodded. “He sure did. A lot. I helped a bit, but he did the brunt of the work, as usual.”

“You really didn’t have to do all this...”

“Sure, we didn’t, but we wanted to,” Lance said and shrugged. Then he smiled a little. “You’re worth it, you know?” Careful there, Lance.

“Huh,” Keith made, and nothing else. He looked around the room again, evidently taking it all in, and Lance followed his gaze. The others in their costume. The decorations, the pumpkins, the presents that had yet to be unwrapped. He hoped Keith saw the same love he did.

  


Hunk returned with the cake a few minutes later, all candles lit. He put it down on the table and Pidge, who had returned shortly before him – now dressed in her near-perfect Rei costume – urged Keith towards it, making him sit down.

“I’m not sure, of course,” Allura said helpfully, “but I think you’re supposed to extinguish the candles.”

Keith looked up at them.

“Make a wish,” Shiro said.

Keith started blowing out the candles and Lance broke into song spontaneously. “Happy birthday to you...” The others joined in. And Keith… didn’t smile, really, but Lance still thought he looked happy.

  


Hunk served Keith the biggest piece of cake. “It’s your favorite,” he said. “And the other one is as close to pumpkin as I could get.”

“And that’s pretty damn close,” Lance added. “Honestly, it’s almost like pumpkin spice.”

They all took pieces of cake themselves and dug in.

“Hunk, this is great!” Keith said. Lance had to agree. He had told Hunk so yesterday already, but the other had only grinned sheepishly.

“I’m glad you like it,” Hunk said now.

  


For a minute or so they were just quiet, enjoying the cake. Until, of course, Lance got bored.

“I’m sad we can’t go trick-or-treating,” he said, popping another piece of cake into his mouth. There were agreeing mumbles from Pidge, Hunk and Shiro. Keith was quiet.

“I’ve never been,” he then admitted in what was almost a rough whisper.

Lance stared at him. “We’ll have to go together then,” he then said automatically, and a little forcefully. “Uh… when we’re back on Earth at some point I guess.” Who cared that they might be a little old then – _if_ they ever returned. Keith had a whole childhood to make up, apparently. And Lance had to help.

Keith shrugged, only the barest hint of a smile on his face. “Sure.”

  


~*~

  


They had wondered about planning some party games but soon realized that that wouldn’t be Keith’s thing at all.

“Plus,” Pidge had said, “him and Lance will get competitive again and ruin it.”

Lance had sputtered and tried to deny it at first, but Pidge was right. They _were_ competitive. Maybe a little too competitive.

  


“We should at least dance,” Lance said now. Immediately everyone protested – except Allura and Coran.

“Dancing sounds excellent!” Coran grinned, fitting his rock star outfit to a T.

“I haven’t danced in so long,” Allura said. “Please?”

“Come on, you heard the lady,” Lance offered his hand to Keith.

Keith rolled his eyes but the corners of his lips were quirking up ever so slightly. “Alright, fine.” He took Lance’s hand.

Lance turned to Pidge and Hunk. “Can we get some music here?”

Pidge was already on the move. “On it!” She had somehow managed to wire some of her old memory cards from Earth into the castle’s data banks. It was old music, but it was music. And then there were the songs from the rest of the Universe, which they mostly couldn’t understand, but could dance to anyway.

Lance pulled Keith into the empty middle of the room while Pidge fiddled with the controls, and finally an old Carly Rae Jepsen song started playing.

“Oh no,” Keith said.

“Oh yes!” Lance grinned.

Keith didn’t seem too keen on moving too much in his costume, but Lance had practiced his moves and he would damn well show them. He hadn’t actually danced properly in so long, and had found himself missing it. There was nothing quite like moving your body to a beat – the only thing that came close was flying. Maybe that was why he loved it so much.

Keith however seemed just as awkward at it as his reaction had promised and Lance almost wanted to laugh at him, but it also made him feel strangely fond. Dancing required a level of coordination that the other boy simply didn’t seem to possess – especially with other people. For all his skill behind the controls and in his lion, now he looked like a waddling penguin. And it wasn’t even a slow-dance song.

“Move your hips,” Lance told him. Keith only blinked at him and now Lance really had to struggle not to laugh. He put his hands on Keith’s waist. “Come on, you have muscles here. Use them.” It took more pressure to guide Keith than he had anticipated, and his fingers dug into the skin beneath Keith’s costume.

“Uh,” Keith made.

Lance pulled back a little. “Sorry.”

“No, I… uh...” Keith shook his head a little and Lance wasn’t sure if it was to clear his thoughts or to negate… something. “It’s alright.”

“Just look at what I’m doing, okay?” He took a step backwards so Keith could see better and closed his eyes. It was easier to focus on the music that way. He let the beat of the pop song take over his bloodstream, his muscles, his moves, his body. For a moment he wondered what this looked like with his costume, but then he let that thought go, too. He forgot all about his surroundings, blending out the others and the room, until nothing but him and the music remained.

Until he heard a low whistle from nearby, and the song was ending.

He opened his eyes to see Hunk grinning at him, obviously the source of the whistling. Lance laughed and winked at him, before turning back to Keith. And Keith… Keith was staring at him, mouth slightly agape, as if he had just seen a ghost. Lance quirked up an eyebrow.

“You okay?” he asked. He heard Pidge snicker behind him.

It apparently took Keith a moment to come back to himself. “Um, yeah,” he made. “Sorry, I… kinda spaced out.”

The next song started before Lance had a chance to answer, and this one was significantly slower, a classic love song. Good for waltzing, or swaying back and forth, if one didn’t know the step sequence or didn’t have the coordination. He heard Pidge say “You’re welcome” to someone in a hushed – but not quiet enough – voice. He bet it was Shiro. God, his friends were the worst (or possibly the best.)

He offered Keith his hand again. “You ready for this?”

Keith grimaced a little but took his hand with only a little hesitation, a small blush creeping up his cheeks, even visible in the now dimly lit room. “You’ll have to show me.” Lance briefly wondered if he had never danced at Garrison balls – there definitely had been one the year they had entered the academy, but he didn’t remember seeing him there.

“Don’t worry, this one is easy,” he then said. “You just put this hand here.” He positioned Keith’s hand properly. “And hold mine with the other, which you’re already doing.”

“Okay,” Keith said, and it was just on the right side of soft and uncertain to tug at Lance’s heartstrings.

He smiled at him. “You’re doing great. Now, just take a step. Let me lead you.” He took a step forward. Keith took a step back. It worked.

Once again the entire room around him disappeared, but this time he wasn’t only focused on the music, but also on Keith. They stepped on each others’ toes a few time, but it was fine, and Lance just laughed it off. And finally, Keith seemed to get into it, too. His movements finally became less stiff, and Lance even got him to spin once, even though it didn’t fit the music. They both had to laugh.

Lance wished the song would never end. He wished they could stay like this forever, and not move out of their small circle of steps, and not have to deal with the whole universe out there.

But finally, the song ended, and even though Lance didn’t want to let go, he did and took a few steps back.

“Thank you,” Keith said, although Lance didn’t know what for.

“Happy birthday, Keith,” Lance said.

He wished there could be more of these precious shared moments.

 

**Author's Note:**

> anyone want to guess where the first part of the title is from? ;)
> 
> (also i did three editing rounds on this and really couldn't see anything any more so please let me know if you find any mistakes)
> 
> come find me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/luffylaws) or [tumblr](https://leiathelight.tumblr.com), or leave me a comment


End file.
